A Spirit of Teamwork and the Flight of the Great Northern Geese

A Spirit of Teamwork & the Flight of the Great Northern Geese
from an art print by Richard Cowdrey*

Formation Flying
Flying in a V-formation, the noble geese travel thousands of miles with ease & precision. As each bird moves its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird following. Formation flying is 70% more efficient than flying alone.

Accept & Give Help
When one of the great birds falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag & resistance of trying to fly alone & quickly rejoins the formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.

Everyone Leads
At a distance, the flock appears to be guided by a single leader. The lead bird does in fact guide the formation, winging smoothly through the oncoming elements. If the lead goose tires, however, it rotates back into the formation & another bird flies at the point position.

Honk and Encourage
Each flock finds its own rhythm. The pulsating sound of the great wings beating together excites & energizes the whole formation. The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Good Times or Bad
When a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation & follow it down to help & protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own into another formation, or they catch up with their flock.

Five geese-related bonuses are available: [1] Ask for a Word document of this blog entry from Alice.V.White@GMail.com; [2] view the vignette 24/7 here at http://www.AliceWhite.WordPress.com & select “Your speeches” from the right-hand menu & then use the upper, right-hand Search engine by entering & searching for “geese;” [3] The Great Wing by Louis A Tartaglia, MD, 1997, a deceptively easy, innocent book for youth & others who are young-at-heart. The book is an amazingly wise, powerful, enduring parable about an inspirational community of migrating Canadian geese & their consciously empowered Master Mind Principles of aerodynamic flight; [4] 1990s limited-edition Spirit of Teamwork print from “Ducks Unlimited;” [5] Winged Migration, Jacques Perrin’s 89-minute DVD, nominated for the Academy Award’s “Best Documentary Feature 2002.”